Manual stimulation of the orbicularis oculi muscle improves eyelid closure after facial nerve injury in adult rats.
We have shown that manual stimulation of rat whisker-pad muscles following facial-facial-anastomosis (FFA) restores normal whisking by lowering the proportion of polyinnervated motor endplates. Here we examined whether manual stimulation of the orbicularis oculi muscle (OOM) after FFA would also improve outcome. Blink responses to standardized air puffs were analyzed using video-based motion analysis. Two months after FFA, blink capacity was impaired, as indicated by a largely increased minimum distance between the eyelids after air-puff stimulation compared with intact rats (2.7 +/- 0.4 vs. 0.2 +/- 0.01 mm). Manual stimulation reduced this deficit by a factor of two (1.3 +/- 0.5 mm). The functional improvement after manual stimulation was associated with a 2-fold decrease in the proportion of polyinnervated OOM endplates (21 +/- 10% vs. 42 +/- 10% without manual stimulation, 0% in intact rats). We conclude that manual stimulation is a noninvasive and simple procedure with immediate potential for clinical rehabilitation of eyelid closure following facial nerve injury.
Bischoff
Anna
A
Department of Anatomy I, Institut für Anatomie der Universität zu Köln, Joseph-Stelzmann-Strasse 9, D-50924 Köln, Germany.
Grosheva
Maria
M
Irintchev
Andrey
A
Skouras
Emmanouil
E
Kaidoglou
Katerina
K
Michael
Joern
J
Angelova
Srebrina K
SK
Kuerten
Stefanie
S
Sinis
Nektarios
N
Dunlop
Sarah A
SA
Angelov
Doychin N
DN
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001699:Biometry; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005141:Eyelid Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D020220:Facial Nerve Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D009045:Motor Endplate / Q000503:physiopathology; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D009801:Oculomotor Muscles / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology